Continued increase in the popularity of online community data has created both benefits and problems. Online “social networking” sites of millions of users allow the users to post or upload content for other users to view, copy, modify, criticize or otherwise use or manipulate. Thus, each social networking site can act as a valuable resource for people to maintain business or social contacts, exchange information and ideas, provide resources for education, commerce or entertainment, or to provide other benefits.
However, operators of social networking sites are often concerned with the type or quality of content that is uploaded by the site's user base. Some types of content are deemed unsuitable or objectionable for the site's users, such as where the user base includes children. Other content may not achieve a desired level of quality or relevancy to a theme or goal of a site. The more popular a social networking site is, the harder it is to police content due to the sheer volume of new content posted each day, and due to the many different and sometimes subtle forms that content can have. But if the site operator is not effective in policing the site's content, the effect on its user base can be harmful.